


Dragons, Kings and Many Weird Things

by onyourleft084



Series: Time after Time [4]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Barduil - Freeform, M/M, Meeting, Memory, Modern AU, Past Lives, Psychometry, Reincarnation AU, Trigger for a vomit scene, references to Thranduil's dog, trapped in elevator prompt, two hot dads, wearing business suits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 16:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3699152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onyourleft084/pseuds/onyourleft084
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A portmanteau of the Trapped in Elevator/Reincarnation AU prompts ft. The hottest dads in Middle-Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dragons, Kings and Many Weird Things

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleLynn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleLynn/gifts).



> This is the fourth in a series. A couple things I'll be stating to get straight:
> 
> In-story, of course, the reincarnated characters don't have the same names as their past lives, but I will still continue to refer to them as such because...really, I can't think of modern AU names, and they end up remember their old ones anyway, so there.
> 
> The memories of their past lives can only be triggered by direct physical contact of any kind, a kind of psychometry if you will.
> 
>  
> 
> Gifted once again to LittleLynn for the reincarnation AU she did in A Thousand Ways to Fall in Love.

There is only one other person in the elevator when Bard enters it, a man he hasn't met before. In a building as big as the one they work in, Bard's not surprised to see strangers in the elevator most of the time, but this stranger, he notes with some amusement, is way easier on the eyes than most. He's got long blonde hair in a ponytail, piercing blue eyes and a physique like a Greek marathoner, and Bard would be lying if he said he didn't like what he saw.

In the back of his mind something tells him he's seen this guy before and should probably know his name, but if Bard's ever met someone like this before, he would be sure to remember what he was called.

The stranger nods curtly as Bard reaches across him to press his floor number on the panel.

"In a hurry?" he asks in a strangely melodic voice.

"Not exactly. It's just been a long day." He sighs and smiles. The smile is returned, shyly.

Silence descends on the pair as the elevator drops.

Then, with a lurch, it stops.

Both men look up, and it's the blond who panics first.

"Holy shit. Is it broken?"

"Calm down," Bard says worriedly, as the other guy stabs at the buttons on the panel with increasing franticness.

"I can't be stuck here. I gotta give my dog his medication at seven o clock--"

"It's five thirty," Bard points out.

"Traffic!" snaps the blond man. "I live, like, three miles outside town!" He groans.

"Whoa, okay," Bard says. "Just chill. I'll get someone to check this out." He pulls out his phone, and calls his assistant, explaining the predicament. She ensures him she's just sent help.

In the meantime though, they're stuck there.

Well, thinks Bard, there could be worse strangers to be with.

 

\---

In the still, stifling confines of the elevator, Thranduil glares at the buttons and tries to calm his hammering heart. Hopefully the problem would be solved soon and he could go home. That dog is just about the only thing he has, the only other living creature he's let himself get attached to. The man with him shuts his phone away and sighs.

"They'll be right on it," he says.

"They better," Thranduil growls. He furiously tries to press the buttons again.

"Look, could you not _do_ that?" the stranger says in an exasperated tone that Thranduil finds oddly familiar. His companion crosses over and pulls his hand away from the panel.

His fingers close around his wrist, and the unexpected happens.

Thranduil no longer sees the elevator, no longer sees the man at his side. Instead his vision is choking with a flood of images and sensations. They are, he realizes, memories; although they shouldn't be, because he's sure these things have never happened to him, not in this life at least. They are images that should belong in a Hollywood blockbuster or a best-selling novel, not his boring life. He is experiencing a whole new one in these images, a much longer one wherein he's not just some businessman, but a fey and powerful being who ruled a realm of golden leaves.

The man who's entered the elevator is no longer dressed in a business suit, but in a heavy winter coat, and his hair is long and unruly. But his eyes are the same, and in this memory they smile at Thranduil; familiar, honest, loving. All of a sudden the stranger in the elevator is not a stranger anymore; he's a dragonslayer. He's a hero and a king.

They both were kings, a long time ago.

Thranduil's not prepared for the memory of kissing him, of holding him close, of watching him die. He's not prepared for the love and the pain that comes with these visions. He pushes the man away and the images stop flooding in. He leans on one hand against the wall, head pounding.

In the opposite corner, the man groans. "God..."

Thranduil's head feels ready to split. He retches, stumbles-- and Bard catches him.

Bard?

What the hell kind of name is that?

And why does he remember whispering it in this stranger's ear as he lay sleeping next to him?

They sink to the floor, Bard still cradling him until Thranduil's head and shoulders lie pillowed in his lap. Thranduil just barely has time to register the overwhelming familiarity of such a position before sitting up abruptly and vomiting all over the elevator floor.

 

\---

When the newly-discovered love of his past life suddenly sits up and begins to hurl copiously, Bard instantly realizes that Thranduil's lived a much, much longer life than he had, and the rush of all those centuries of memories must be so overwhelming it makes his head hurt so much that it's making him throw up. Bard's head is pounding too, but not as loudly as his heart, which skips every other beat as he soaks in the realization that _this is where he's seen this stranger before_ and _no, he's not a stranger, he was an immortal being of a distant world and he loved me. He loved me._

Thranduil-- the name sparks in his brain like a light being turned on in a dark room-- stops retching, rolls onto his back and looks up at Bard. His eyes are exactly the same as he remembers them.

"I have the feeling we've done this before," he says dazedly.

Bard grins, despite himself. "Yeah, this...and a lot more."

His breath catches. "Bard."

"It's me." There's that smile again, Thranduil thinks. How has he lived so long in this life without remembering that smile? "So I guess you got yourself killed after all."

Bard pulls him close to his chest, unable to say anything else. One minute ago they didn't know each other, now they're holding on to each other like it's the end of the goddamn world.

"Do you remember? Do you?" Thranduil whispers. "So many things. So many _weird_ things..."

"But they were _our_ weird things," Bard claims. "Dragons and treasures and battles and the kids...do you remember the four kids?"

Thranduil chuckles softly. "Of course I remember our kids."

"And I remember the first time you smiled at me," Bard says. "I had always thought you cold and haughty, but that smile changed everything."

"Cold," Thranduil states. "Yes, I was, wasn't I? Until I met you."

Bard's fingers ghost over Thranduil's arms and waist, tenderly, tentatively, but if he were to really touch him Thranduil wouldn't have even flinched. His hands are familiar and welcome even in this new life.

"Thranduil." Bard relishes the familiar way the name rolls off his tongue. "You were always so fragile," he murmurs. "In that life and in this one, too."

"I am not," Thranduil protests softly.

Bard smiles. "Who's the one who threw up and ended up on the floor because of a headache?"

"Huh. Touché." Thranduil reaches for his hand, unashamed now that he's sure he's known this man before. They hold each other in silence, letting the memories wash over them once again.

"Your dog," Bard reminds.

"Oh yeah. My dog," Thranduil whispers. "I would be worried sick if I wasn't so glad to have you back. How do you live for so long without realizing that such a big part of you is missing?"

Bard swallows back his own tears. "God, I don't even know."

Thranduil looks up at him, reaches up to cup his chin. "I would kiss you right now if I didn't smell so much like the last thing I ate." He grins. "But later, I promise."

Outside, they begin to hear people approaching, loud noises as technicians arrive and start to force the doors open. Bard smiles again. He's sure he's going to have many more reasons to smile after today.

"I'm patient," he says gently. "I can wait."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So I friggin' enjoyed writing this one. I planned it all out in my head while acting as my grandma's plus-one to a senior lunch. For what it's worth, I pictured Thrandy's suit as a TARDIS-shade of blue (accentuating the lighter shade of his eyes idk) and Bard's as grey, because isn't Luke Evans just darling in grey? Hot dads in business suits holding each other in an elevator, you're welcome for that mental image.


End file.
